Changeable sign.



6-. 'STAR.

CHANGEABLE SIGN.

APPLICATION FILED OCT-19. I914- 1 1 88,695. Patented June 27, 1916.

ogaS/ar wfizesses THB OLUMBIA PLANGGRAPII Cm, WASNINUT QN, D. C-

' oy/omej UNrrEn STATES PATENT orifice.

eEoReE STAR, OF DAVENPORT, IOWA, AssIeNoR or oNE-THIRDTo MARTIN siLRER- sTEIN AND ONE-THIRD To PHILIP WAGNER, BOTH 0F AVENPORT, IOWA.

onANe AELE sIe Application filed October 19, 1914. Serial No. 867,330.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, GEORGE STAR, a citizen of the United States of America, and resident of Davenport, Scott county, Iowa, have invented a certam new and useful Improvement in Changeable Signs, of which the following 1s a speclfication.

My invention relates to changeable signs or bulletin boards in which thin metallic strips or slats, provided with flanges at their edges, are inter-engaged and suspended one from the other, and have character bearing members hanging from the flanged edges; and the objects of my improvement, are first, to provide a slat or strip of the simplest possible form and of such reduced size that much offal or scrap material can be utilized in its manufacture, and of such simple outline as to come within the product of the simplest forms of crimping or flanging machinery; second, to make possible the use of a very simple character-bearing member consisting of a small strip of sheet metal bent over at one end; third, to provide the necessary recesses, for the ready insertion and removal of the character bearing members, through the association of the interengaging slats rather than in the specific form of slat, and fourth, to provide a structure in which the character bearing members can be suspended from either or both faces, making a double sign board, and without regard to which end of the sign board may be uppermost. I attain these objects by the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which- Figure 1 is a view in elevation of my improved sign. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a number of "inter-engaging slats showing character bearing members carried on both.

faces. Fig. 3 is a cross sectional View taken on lines 33 of Fig. 1. Fig. f is a perspective view of a character bearing member- Fig. 5 is a cross sectional view taken on line 55 of Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawing in which similar reference numerals refer to similar parts throughout the several views, 1. 1. represent the channel shaped side members that loosely engage the extremities of the metallic slats 2 2. These slats which may be made of long narrow strips of tin or other sheet metal, consist of the body portion 2* and the flanges 3. 3. formed by bending the longitudinal edges rearwardly, with the free edges of the flanges brought slightly toward the center line of the body portion. The sign board is assembled by suspending one slat from another through the medium of the edge flanges. This, as clearly indicated in Fig. 2 disposes the face or body portion of alternate slats in the same vertical plane producing a double face sign with grooves or re cesses between alternate slats. The character bearing members 4 which may consist of flat pieces of sheet metal, have one end flanged similarly in form to the flanges on slats from which they are hung as shown. The channel shaped side members are slipped over the ends of the assembled slats and are secured to the end slats only, by soldering or crimping or any approved manner.

As the contours or forms of both edges of a finished slat are alike and as there always s a space or recess between alternate slats, 1t is obvious that the sign board can be supported with either end uppermost and yet. properly function in sustaining the character By inserting the finger tips in the recess which intersects the character bearing member, or in the recesses at the top and bottom thereof, these characters can be readily inserted or removed.

In my co-pending application filed July 11th, 1914 Serial No. 850,393 the series was formed by a depression in the slat itself while in the present device it exists by reason of the novel arrangement orassociation of one slat with the other.

What I claim as new is- In a device of the class set forth, a pair of vertical edge bars and aseries of horizontal slats connected at their ends to said bars, these slats being alike as to size and shape so as to thereby be interchangeable and each slat consisting of a plate having its longitudinal edges bent inwardly to form hook-like flanges, the flanges of adjacent plates being in overlapping interlocking relation andthe Signed by me at Davenport, Iowa this slats on one side being reversed With respect latth day of October 1914. to the slats on the other side, thereby f0rn1- GEORGE STAR. ing on each face of the structure a series of Witnesses:

5 spaced channels or recesses, for the purpose PHIL WAGNER,

herein set forth. KATHRYN MAHAN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents. Washington, D. G." 

